Gnome Asia Summit Vietnam 2009 Check List

This list is part of the Gnome Asia Summit Application for Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam 2009

Country

Does the country have any GNOME hackers?

There is a growing Gnome and Linux Community in Vietnam.

Is it easy to get VISA for non-European natives?

Yes, it is easy for most countries.

City

Does the city have any GNOME hackers?

People who develop around the Gnome desktop - yes.

Does the city have LUG people that can help with organizing?

Different organizations exist including the Ho-Chi-Minh Computer association (www.hca.org.vn) and the SaigonLUG (www.saigonlug.org).

Is it centrally located?

It is one of the biggest cities and easily reachable including by budget airlines in the region.

Does it have good airport connections?

It does have good airport connections.

Is there a good bus infrastructure?

Different transportation systems are available. It is easy and cost efficient to get around.

Is there a good train infrastructure?

There are number of national train connections.

Dates

Does the conference happen at the weekend? Does the conference happen during the week?

We plan to hold the Gnome Asia Summit for about 4 days including the weekend.

Does the conference overlap with any public or religious holidays?

No.

Does the venue cost more money during certain dates?

There are different venues planned including free spaces at the university.

How long with the conference be?

4 days

What are your planned dates for opening up registration, call for papers, ... ?

Call for papers: 5 months before event Registration: 2-3 months before the conference

Venue

Does the venue have a good collection of different sized rooms for large keynotes, network room, and small breakout sessions?

Yes, we have different venues available suiting different needs.

Does the venue have microphones?

Yes.

Does the venue have video projectors?

Only partly. We need to organize this.

Does the venue have white screens?

Only partly. We need to organize this.

Does the venue have whiteboards?

Only partly. We need to organize this.

Does the venue have notice boards?

Only partly. We need to organize this.

Is there space for a coffee area?

Yes, there are spaces for coffee and tea.

Is there space for booths to be set up?

Yes, there are spaces for booths.

Is there a registration area?

We have to set this up.

Are there shops, restaurants and pubs near the venue?

Yes, there are public facilities available to most venues.

Network

Does the venue have a wired network?

Most venues have a wired network, however we plan to set up wireless networks with Freifunk for the event.

Can a network be set up in a suitably large network room?

Wireless Freifunk networks will be available throughout the area.

Does the venue have wireless?

See above.

Events

Does the host city have a party venue?

There are many party venues in Ho-Chi-Minh City.

Are there tourist opporunities in the city?

HCM is a major and cheap tourist spot.

Is it possible to have food and drink provided at the conference?

Yes, it is possible.

Sponsorship

Are there any local businesses that would be interested in sponsoring the event?

There are a number of local and international businesses in Quang Trung Software City, who would like to sponsor the event.

What are the different sponsorship bands, and what amount of sponsorship is required for each band?

This is still to be decided.

Can you count on holding the event on its own without sponsorship from the main players eg. HP, Sun, Red Hat, ..?

We can hold an event without major companies involved, however we would have to cut back on a number of activities.

Accommodation

Is there a large variety of different accommodation options available?

There is a huge variety of accomodation available.

Are there accommodation options near to the venue?

Yes.

Can you organize cheap accommodation for visiting speakers?

Yes, we are planning to preorganize cheap accomodation for speakers.

Can you organize discounts with accommodation for conference attendees?

Yes, we are planning to preorganize cheap accomodation for attendees.

Travel

Can you organize a different set of travel options to get to the host city?

We can provide information on travel options and budget connections, which can be booked online directly at travel companies.

Is it easy to get to and from the conference venue?

It is very easy to get to the venues.

Is it easy to get to the city from the conference venue?

Yes, it is easy. You need to calculate more time during rush hours.

Website

Is the infrastructure in place for gnome asia?

We are planning to use the existing infrastructure available.

Have you called for criticism/suggestions/patches for the website, so it looks professional.

It looks very professional and we will keep it this way.

Are there people capable of maintaining the web page before, during and after the conference?

Yes, we have a number of people available for that.

Can the front page prominently display approximately 10 sponsor logos?

Yes.

Is a registration system available for use?

A registration system still has to be set up.

[Optional] Does the website allow easy translation, without one version becoming outdated/out-of-sync.

It is our plan to offer different languages.

Schedule

Do you plan to have planning or BOF sessions?

We are planning several meetings of involved people and volunteers.

How many speakers do you propose to have?

We are planning for 4 parallel tracks for 2 days, and 2 tracks for the other day. Sizes of rooms differ and we also would like to have a bar camp like track.

What times to you intend to stick to?

25 minute sessions or 55 minute sessions.

Do you have any group sessions?

We will have workshop areas.

Lightning Talks

Lightning talks with 5 minutes talk will be preorganized in a wiki.

Have you factored in registration and foundation members meeting?

We will include this in the final (internal) schedule.

Who will organize the collection of abstracts, papers and photos?

Mario Behling, Kevin Miller Jr. and the core team

Will you have a paper committee to decide which papers to accept?

Yes, we will coordinate this closely with the Gnome Asia Committee.

Who will you get to keynote during the conference?

This is to be decided.

Who will you invite from the business sector?

This is to be decided.

Will you have themes for the conference, and divide the schedule into separate tracks?

Yes, we plan to do this.

Merchandizing

Do you plan to design a special logo for the conference?

Yes.

Do you plan to print tshirts for people to buy/receive during registration?

Yes.

Are the designs ready 2 weeks before they are used, so they can be reviewed?

Yes.

Do you have enough L and XL t-shirts? The split should be 20% XL, 40% L, 25% M, the other 15% equally among baby-doll S and M and standard S.

We will make sure, we stick to this.

Printed material

The following still has to be decided.

Do you have a designer and printer, with a clear idea of what they need, and when?

What's the budget for printed material?

Can t-shirts be printed by the same printer, and designed by the same designer?

What do you plan to be in the registration pack?

When are your dates for printing the conference proceedings?

Do you plan to have live CD's available?

Do you plan to advertise the conference with any leaflets?

Get the layout files (Quark, etc) done by GNOME contributors who know what they are doing. Commercial pre-press/printers are often expensive, slow, and incompetent. List all the various logo files (GUADEC, GNOME, sponsors, organisers) on one web page.

Registration

What numbers of people can the venue hold?

We have different choices and are able to extend the venues. The exact venues will be determined in the upcoming months.

What categories of registration do you plan?

We plan to focus on a community event.

Do you intend to charge for registration fees?

We do not intend to charge community participants for registration.

What infrastructure is available to handle registration fees both before and during the conference?

To be determined.

Are there likely to be any unforeseen administration costs?

To be determined.

See Press - is there a clear path for press contacts coming to the registration site to get accreditation for the event?

Yes.

Budget

Do you intend to keep a budget?

Yes.

Do you have funds easily available to organize a number of local services before the conference?

We are planning to have funds available.

Did you factor in currency conversion into your budget?

We are planning to factor this in.

Helpers

Are there local people available to help with conference registration, session timing, ...?

We have numerous people from the universities interested in helping out.

Are there international people available to help with keeping things going smoothly?

Yes, there are internationals living in HCM available.

Do you have people in each room, to make talks start and end on time.

Yes, we plan to do this.

Board meeting

Is there a room available before/after the conference to hold the foundation board and advisory board meetings?

Yes.

Is there a hotel to hold these if a room at the venue isn't available?

Yes.

Are projectors, screens and whiteboards available in these rooms?

Yes.

Does the room have an internet connection?

Yes.

Can you organize lunch, drinks, snacks for these all day meetings?

Yes.

Emergency

Are there people with cell phones available during the conference for emergency contacts?